If you are looking for a NAS Solution, I think I've found a great one

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ComputerBox34

[H]F Junkie
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Nov 12, 2003
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Recently, I've gotten sick of the current solution I was utilizing which was slow (1 mb/s) and really not useful at all for large file transfers which have become more and more common now-a-days.

Enter Synology DS409+:

http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS409+/index.php

Unbelievable device and great bargain for the money. Comes packed with features and is very fast. I frequently get file transfers of 30+ mb/s over gigabit ethernet.

Top Features include:
Photo station - View all of your photos from an online app. Send the link to your family and they can also view/download pics. Security-wise, you are able to make albums private and require a user/password which you can set up.
Audio station - Online app that allows you to stream all of your music. Unbelieveably convenient if you're at work and feel like listening to something. Supported formats: MP3, M3U
Surveillance station - NAS has the ability to talk to certain cameras and record everything they see under an alloted quota. Awesome if you want to sign in from work and take a peek at things.
Download station - Will perform downloads for you. Great for setting a download up while you're away from home and getting a head start
Backup software - Local client that you can set to watch certain folders. At a scheduled time, it will back it up to the NAS
Web Station - host your own website

It is RAID compatible - RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6
Has built in iTunes server (AWESOME)
All media files can be accessed by your PS3/360

There really is just no downside to this device whatsoever. It has plenty of security with using HTTPS to sign in from the outside and the ability to change ports around so that you can keep hackers guessing and circumventing port blocks at work.

Price: $570 - http://www.amazon.com/Synology-Stat...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1250491297&sr=8-1
(without hard drives)

I'm currently running a 4 TB setup with RAID 5. With the RAID 5, I have about 3 TB of usable space.

Here is the interface if anybody is interested: http://demo.synology.com:5000/
Enter password synology and you're in.

If anyone has questions, let me know and I'll be happy to answer. Personally, I think this is a great alternative to just running a media server since this is an easy all in one package and provides a host of great features.
 
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Is there a benefit of something like this over a Windows Home Server, either store bought like a MediaSmart or homebuilt? They would both cost roughly the same, but WHS has more features and I think would be faster over gigabit. Ease of use and reliability perhaps, or does this have features that are not available on a WHS?
 
Well it got a good review on smallnetbuilder.
But I dont see what it offers over a DIY build, all it really is, is a stripped down linux distro.
 
30MB/s is pretty slow to be honest, since it's RAID you can't pull a disk and pull the data off, and only holding four disks while costing $571.21...

WHS has made devices like this obsolete in the home IMO.
 
I had a 407e for some time, and loved it until the array started to fail for seemingly no reason. I credit that unit and the explosion of hard drive sizes with turning me off to raid 5s as primary storage. I still had backups but when something decides to not be reliable it is definitely no longer worth it.

Their tech support is great, and they went so far as to replace my unit when they couldn't give me a solution to the problem at hand. They are more feature packed and artfully made than any other Consumer NAS unit I have seen. Had I not had so much trouble I would probably still own one for secondary backups and file streaming.

The iTunes server was fun, but would take like 5 minutes to populate with 80 GB or so of music.

So close to buying my Norco...
 
I just set one of these up with 4x2tb drives for a friend and had no issues. I run a Netgear Readynas NV+ with the same drives with no issues as well. I like these little nas machines for just the ease of setup and no management required, just plug and play.
 
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